A Sydney Anglican minister has answered the call of Kenyan pastors to train current and future church leaders.
The rector of St Matthew's, Ashbury, the Rev Peter Sholl has just returned from two weeks in Kenya teaching 75 pastors, evangelists and ministry trainees.
Mr Sholl taught "Biblical Theology 1' (Introduction to the Bible), the first subject of the Moore College Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC) course to the Kenyan ministry workers during his two week stay.
Mr Sholl's visit was part of the ongoing "PTC in East Africa' program, a cooperative venture between African Enterprise and Moore College.
"Because of economic and educational limitations, the majority of pastors in Kenya have little or no formal theological education," Mr Sholl says.
"The idea of the program is to try and share with them some of the excellent resources we have in Sydney and encourage local pastors to take some time out from their hectic schedules to undertake formal theological training."
This was Mr Sholl's third visit to Kenya but this time the courses were structured differently.
Rather than asking the students to come to the African Enterprise training centre on the outskirts of Nairobi, the course was taken to the pastors.
In the first week Mr Sholl taught Biblical Theology 1 in the Muthare Valley, one of the sprawling slum areas of Nairobi.
In the second week, the course moved to the rural centre of Mwingi, located 250km North-East of Nairobi.
"Mwingi was the centre of an African Enterprise mission in 2005 which was so successful and the local Pastor's Fellowship so keen, that it was decided a PTC course would be trialled there," Mr Sholl says.
The 45 pastors and church workers who turned up for the week long course and subsequent exam proved the trial enormously successful.
Chairman of the Mwingi Pastor's Fellowship, Pastor Michael Ngenga says he is already looking forward to the next subject, which he hopes will be taught later this year.
"What our churches need is clear doctrine and good Bible teaching," Mr Ngenga says.
"This course has started to show us how to be pastors who can do that."
The "PTC in East Africa' program relies on the generosity of local churches, like St Matthew's, Ashbury to "donate' their minister's time and pay expenses.
"While the benefits for the Kenyan pastors are huge, the Sydney sending congregation also benefits," Mr Sholl says.
"With "eyewitness' testimony on the way God is working on the other side of the world, [it's a] clear reminder that God is indeed for all the nations. [It gives us] a renewed vision to pray for the work of the gospel beyond our own borders."
